Alina (LIFTS THE) Box: Over the last few weeks, I have been checking out Errollyn Wallen’s music. I don’t think I could be any more enamored with her writing than I already am. Drop everything you’re doing and listen to her piece titled Daedalus arranged for Mezzo-Soprano and String Quartet, commissioned by The Brodsky Quartet. Daedalus is a character in Greek mythology and was the father of Icarus who infamously flew too close to the sun. The haunting lyrics will have you weeping. Wallen writes the following: “I wrote this song from Daedalus’ perspective and alluded to his murder, years earlier, of Perdix, his nephew and apprentice, whose own talent for inventing threatened to overshadow that of Daedalus.”
I have to say, too, that her voice is stunning. The pop influence inserts itself so seamlessly into the luscious sound of the strings. I cannot yet describe the way that the voice and strings interact. Melancholy and lamenting do not quite cut it. Anyways, let me if you can capture the essence with more clarity than I can!
Make some time and listen her vocal works, “The Girl in My Alphabet” “Are You Worried About the Rising Cost of Funerals,” and “Comfort Me with Apples,” just to name a few. Of course, I thoroughly so much of her writing, but I am unabashedly bias towards the vocal works. I am excited to look deeper into her operatic works as well.